


evil (is going on)

by nautilics



Series: IwaOi Week 2015 [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Hunters, Blood, IwaOi Week, M/M, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-15
Updated: 2015-06-15
Packaged: 2018-04-04 13:11:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4138839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nautilics/pseuds/nautilics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p></p><blockquote>
  <p>The good news is that they find the dullahan before it’s too late. The bad news is that a dullahan is a headless horseman, and therefore has a horse, and even being at the peak of physical condition doesn’t mean that they can actually overtake a horse on foot.<br/></p>
</blockquote><br/>Supernatural hunters AU. Iwaizumi and Oikawa take on a job concerning a headless horseman.
            </blockquote>





	evil (is going on)

**Author's Note:**

> written in the spirit of iwaoi week, loosely inspired by day 1: 'they're perfectly in synch' and the idea of hunter duo oikawa and iwaizumi. this isn't quite a spn crossover but I was definitely inspired by how perfectly Dean and Sam work together in a hunt, so thanks for that at least, supernatural.
> 
> title taken from the song from [howlin' wolf ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcHsRi7wO6o)

The good news is that they manage to catch up with the dullahan as it gallops silently through the neighbourhood. Iwaizumi, though a very healthy and able young man, is thoroughly exhausted, and the strap of the messenger bag with their supplies is digging heavily into his left shoulder. By his side, Oikawa isn’t faring much better. His hair is plastered against his forehead and he hasn’t made even a faux-complaint about the exercise in twenty minutes.

The dullahan is heading towards the house at the bottom of the hill where their client is currently huddling in the locked bathroom and probably clutching a baseball bat or something, even though Iwaizumi had warned him that none of that would help. If the dullahan so much as reached the front door, there wasn’t much they could do for the guy anyway, but in hindsight Iwaizumi probably didn’t need to mention that out loud. Well, if they got the job done – which they would, because Iwaizumi and Oikawa are nothing if not professionals – then the client wouldn’t have to worry about anything anyway. Even if they had miscalculated how well iron would trap a dullahan (the answer: not well enough), well, the important thing is that the client isn't dead yet.

So, the good news is that they find the dullahan before it’s too late. The bad news is that a dullahan is a headless horseman, and therefore has a _horse_ , and even being at the peak of physical condition doesn’t mean that they can actually overtake a _horse_ on foot.

Oikawa seems to realise this at the same moment that Iwaizumi does, because he slows down, scanning their surroundings for anything useful. It doesn’t take long for him to tug at Iwaizumi’s sleeve, too out of breath from their breakneck sprint to actually speak. Iwaizumi looks over to where he’s pointing. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he says. Still breathing heavily, Oikawa slants a pointed look at the increasingly distant dullahan. “Fine, but I hate this and I hate you.” Oikawa doesn’t even dignify that with a response.

A few seconds later, Iwaizumi is gripping the handlebar of an abandoned shopping trolley and pushing off down the road, bracing his feet on the trolley as they pick up speed. Thankfully, the middle of the night means that there aren't any cars driving along the road. He prays fervently they don’t crash into anything as they whizz down the hill, given that he can’t actually see a thing with Oikawa in the way. 

Oikawa, having flung aside the top basket of the trolley and perched himself precariously on the wire underframe, is whistling off-key, the second basket from the trolley upside down in his lap. “A little to the right!” he calls out, and Iwaizumi grits his teeth and wrenches the trolley so that they careen around the parked car with an alarming screeching sound. By some miracle, they don’t fall over. “So close! You’ll get it next time, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa sing-songs.

Iwaizumi reminds himself that crashing the trolley would hurt both of them, and at least one of them needed to be functional to take care of the dullahan. “Are we close yet?” He wishes that supernatural horses weren’t so silent, because it really sucks to be driving blind here.

“Almost,” Oikawa says. “I’ll get ready. Pass me the bag?”

With only a little bit of wobbling, Iwaizumi manages to pull the messenger bag over his head and hand it over. Oikawa digs around a little and pulls something out. There’s a pause, and then he promptly bursts out laughing. 

Despite the wind rushing past them, Iwaizumi feels his ears heat up. “Shut up! Next time, _you_ can try to find something that’s genuine gold on such short notice.”

Oikawa, still giggling, turns to snicker directly in his face. He holds up a fist-sized sculpture of Santa Claus waving cheerily, an exaggerated grin etched on its golden face. “They have these things called earrings, Iwa-chan.”

“Yeah, and then you’d drop it in two seconds flat and then we’d be trying to find a tiny little earring in the middle of the night.” And then they’d be basically defenceless against the dullahan, because neither of them carries a scrap of gold anywhere else on them.

Oikawa huffs a little, but seems to concede the point with only a minimal amount of giggling. 

Their momentum from hurtling down the hill in a rickety trolley has put them at an alarming speed and, somehow, they've actually caught up to the headless rider. Iwaizumi resolves to never admit that the trolley was actually a good idea. Iwaizumi feels Oikawa shift his weight to the left and steers the trolley accordingly. They're close enough now that Iwaizumi can feel the way the temperature suddenly drops around them. He sees the hulking shape of the rider as they skid past it, and the eerie glow from the severed head that it clutches in its lap. Neither the horse nor the rider spares them a glance.

Oikawa glances over his shoulder at him. “Go for it, Iwa-chan.”

With a grunt, Iwaizumi yanks hard on the handlebar and plants a foot on the ground, twisting the trolley around so that they're facing the dullahan, and Oikawa thrusts out his hand, brandishing the grinning gold Santa. At the sight of the gleaming metal, the horse rears, thrashing its head in fear. For a brief, heart-stopping moment, its hooves flash dangerously close to Oikawa, but the dullahan pulls at the reins and turns it aside.

Before Iwaizumi can breathe a sigh of relief, a thin, white shape comes snapping towards him and slashes his forehead. With a yell, he loses his grip on the trolley and tumbles backwards, hearing Oikawa shouting out his name. Luckily, they'd reached the bottom of the hill, so he only rolls a few times before managing to get back on his feet with only a few scrapes. He looks up, dashing a hand across his face to clear away the blood oozing from the cut, and sees the dullahan holding a long, bone-white whip. The horse is skittish still, and Oikawa had leapt off the trolley and is currently waving around the Santa in its face.

They're pretty much right outside the client's house now, but Oikawa's efforts with the gold are keeping the dullahan at bay. By the looks of it though, the rider was getting the horse under control, and it was edging closer. Each wild twist of the horse’s head forces Oikawa to back up and he’s losing ground. "Oikawa!" Iwaizumi barks.

"I know!" 

They need to hurry up.

Iwaizumi skirts around so that he approaches the dullahan from behind, snatching up the forgotten shopping basket from the ground along the way. He catches Oikawa's eye and lifts up the basket. Oikawa nods.

With pinpoint precision, Oikawa throws the Santa at the glowing head in the dullahan's lap. It startles, and the head, knocked back, flies towards Iwaizumi, who catches it in the basket and slams it down on the ground. The sickly glow bleeds out through the slits in the basket. An inhuman shriek emits from within and is matched by a furious whinny from behind Iwaizumi, the first sound the horse has made all evening.

Oikawa dodges past the thrashing horse and dives towards him, drawing a knife and a small hemp bag from his belt at the same time. In one fluid motion, Iwaizumi pulls away the basket and Oikawa rams the knife into an eye socket. The moldy flesh seems to sizzle where it comes in contact with the knife. The shrieking intensifies, causing both of them to flinch, and Oikawa pulls the knife out, pressing the bag into the hole. 

He draws his hands back just in time for Iwaizumi to shove a lit match against the cloth. "Come on, come on," he mutters. As if in response, the material catches fire and the smell of burning sandalwood soon fills the air.

Both of them collapse backwards, exhaling simultaneously in relief. Iwaizumi can still feel blood trickling from the cut on his forehead, and his skinned knees burn a little, but they're both in one piece. Which is when the rest of the dullahan charges at them.

"Shit!" Iwaizumi dives to the side, barely avoiding having his head trampled in. When he looks up, the dullahan is already turning around and charging again, thundering towards Oikawa. Both the rider and horse look haggard, forms flickering without the head to anchor them. The whip is gone, and in its hands instead is a pitch black basin, sloshing with some dark liquid. Oikawa, always more nimble than him, scrambles to his feet and out of the way, glancing back at the dullahan to keep it in sight.

The horse lets out another ghastly whinny, and the dullahan flings the liquid at Oikawa before disintegrating entirely.

The blood hits Oikawa right in the face, and he screams, crumpling instantly. 

"Tooru!" Iwaizumi is by his side in a flash, shaking him frantically. “Shit, are you alright? Can you –"

“My eyes,” he gasps, voice hoarse. Iwaizumi swears, locates their bag where it'd fallen and been forgotten, and finds their flask of purified water. Using one arm to stop Oikawa from convulsing too much, he pours the water carefully over his eyes. The red blood washes out easily enough, leaving pink streaks against Oikawa’s skin, but at least he’s no longer writhing in pain.

Iwaizumi empties the rest of the flask, then helps Oikawa sit up. He’s rubbing at his eyes, grimacing a little. His shoulders are still shaking. Iwaizumi screws the lid back on, watching him carefully. “Are you alright?”

“I’ll be fine, it’s just a bit of blood,” Oikawa says airily, as if he isn't half drenched in blood and hadn't been a twitching mess barely a second ago. Iwaizumi gives him a pointed look. “What? It’s not like it’s the first time I’ve gotten blood in my eyes. You're the one who's bleeding in three different places.” He can't deny that. "Anyway, the monster is gone, so let's hurry up and get our money and get home." Oikawa sniffs exaggeratedly. "You need a shower."

He doesn’t protest when Iwaizumi pulls him into a hug, though. Iwaizumi buries his face into Oikawa’s shoulder, heedless of the stench, and lets out a shaky breath. He feels Oikawa’s hands reach up to clutch his back, and they sit there for a few minutes without words.

When Iwaizumi pulls back, his eyes are most definitely dry. “The smelly one is you, asshole. I hate that this is a normal thing now.” Iwaizumi pauses to consider. “And we’re going to go see Watari on the way back. It might have been magic blood or something.”

“Don’t be silly, he’s got exams to worry about already. I’ll just wash them out properly when we get back, okay?” Oikawa gets to his feet, reaching out a hand to Iwaizumi. “Come on,” says Oikawa, giving him an expectant look. There are still traces of blood smeared across his face and soaked into his clothing, but his eyes blaze as bright as always. 

Iwaizumi takes his hand and lets himself be pulled up. He laces their fingers together, and Oikawa smiles at him. There are callouses and grit and flakes of dried blood on both of their fingers, but the monster is dead, they’re not too worse for wear, and Oikawa’s still by his side. 

All in all, he supposes, this job could probably count as a success.

**Author's Note:**

> the dullahan, the headless horseman of celtic mythology, is a pretty cool creature. they're said to ride around with the spine of a human corpse as a whip, sometimes in a carriage pulled by six horses, sometimes on a single horse, using their own severed head as a lantern, and are scared of gold. also they throw blood at people who spy on them. neat, right?
> 
> generally speaking, they're more of a grim reaper type who simply brings death to people when it's their time. you should probably not try to kill a dullahan.
> 
> burning sandalwood incense is said to purify evil (I took some liberties).
> 
> for reference, this is the [santa claus statue](http://luxurylaunches.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Santa_Claus-thumb-450x469.jpg).
> 
> this is also posted on [tumblr](http://merjolras.tumblr.com/post/121592224511/evil-is-going-on)! come shriek embarrassingly with me about weird AUs!!


End file.
